


I Shot The Sheriff(Backstory)

by Arnielia



Category: Fallout New Vegas
Genre: Backstory, Decanus, F!courier - Freeform, Fallout, Fallout New Vegas - Freeform, Flashback, Legion - Freeform, NCR, caeser's legion, fnv - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-01-21 10:38:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12455828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arnielia/pseuds/Arnielia
Summary: Teaching the unluckiest lucky person in the world how to wield a gun may very well be something nobody will easily forget.





	I Shot The Sheriff(Backstory)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
"Again."  
"No you are going to die if you do it like that, or blow a hole through your head" she said hitting the gun Jenn was barely holding up so it would fall. Thankfully it was not even loaded nor was the safety trigger pulled so no harm came. But it did make Jenn flinch and look down.  
"You don't have to be so mean about it" she protested and her aunt Nell just scoffed and rolled her one good eye.  
"Sugar if you knew what being mean was, you would be begging to be put in a Vault and never think of living in the West" she replied and took out her own pistol, battered and old, but it was like an extension to her own hand how well it fit. She took the correct stance, both hands aligned so she could see the correct target, which was a tin can on a barrel some feet away and began explaining, her voice as focused as her mind.  
"Hands straight, muscles firm" she said and pulled the safety "mind clear and-".  
Nothing. She mimicked the entire process of shooting perfectly without shooting. For some reason, she never really shot her gun anymore and it confused Jenn. She knew her aunt was a great marksman. Though she was only a former police officer that retired early due to disabilities, she was better than the few people she knew. Nell put her pistol back in its holster and turned to Jenn.  
"Do you get it now?"  
"...I do in theory" Jenn replied honestly, since she couldn't afford to be cocky over something that could kill her.  
"Look kid" Nell sighed and folded her arms and looked at her and then at the horizon," face it, you aren't cut out for this. You can try and learn to shoot at tin cans every day for ten years and when a man stands in front of you, his beating heart even audible in the rush, you just won't be able to shoot".  
Jenn looked at her, disturbed slightly, she did not think of it as such but still picked up the gun with her hands. Hands that did not fit the image of a gun wielder. Nell judged her for that a lot, unlike her, Jenn was a girl that should not have the need to learn to shoot. She had the looks she inherited from her brother-in-law and the charm of her sister, she could easily marry one day and live safely somewhere in the Republic, or if luck was on her side, become a working woman and never worry about anything except for paying for her food. All of this she could, unlike Nell who only had the luxury of either joining the NCR, or following her sister to Oregon and becoming an officer. Looks and charm weren't on her side, but brute strength and a certain coldness when in the wake of fighting definitely were. Yes, they were too different and she knew she could never become like her. It was not to be.  
A bang followed by another, awoke her and she returned to reality from her trip through memory lane. Her being alarmed by a possible attack was dismissed when saw that the two bullets she heard came from the shaking blonde child before her. Jenn, with tears in her eyes even, had taken the gun that did not have any bullets previously, Nell had made sure of that, and nearly shot the can, aiming too high and then right below it. She breathed heavily but was glad she was not far off and looked at Nell who only had an expression of anger. All hope had vanished from her young face and she prepared for the shouting.  
"I had told you that you are not to touch my bullets until you are capable to hold things in your hands without breaking them!" She got in her face and took the gun from her. Jenn let the tears drop onto the dry dirt below her, wanting to prove herself that she was capable of shooting, and even protecting herself.  
" Go back to the cottage right now" Nell added turned from her, her voice much lower, as she went to pick up the bullet and can. Jenn without a second thought just ran back.  
"Argh, stupid kid.." she breathed as she took the things. She seemed to look about, something seeming off to her, but she had no wish to go investigate when there was work to do.  
Jenn had already made it back to their home, jumping over the once white picket fence that kept the property safe a lifetime ago. Such an overreaction by Nell was usual, but it never made it less scary. She ran into the house, shutting the door with a bang, and ran up the stairs to her room she made out of the attic. She closed the door of her room, even though it did not do much since it was barely hanging onto the hinges. She turned on the radio she had managed to buy a few days prior, staying inside and not having anything good to do was getting extremely boring. And this is how she managed to hear the latest news, since her aunt often just evaded the questions she had about the world. And of course there was the musical breaks, which she lived for. The radio took her mind off being hurt, reminding her that there was so much happening in the world and she had to be strong so she could witness it all".  
"The Ranger Unification Treaty between the NCR and The Desert Rangers has been signed. With this treaty, not only will the forces of the New California Republic be stronger, but they can also begin their expanse into the Mojave Wasteland."  
She perked up upon hearing that.  
"I hope they manage to help the Mojave" She said as she leaned onto the end table while sitting on the floor, as if speaking with the radio. "You couldn't pay the bravest idiots to step there".  
"In other news-" The sound began to become static and she jumped up "-are coming in that the-...-were spotted in the vicinity of Utah. We are unsure why they are in such few numbers-...Advise-". The radio had gone completely static before just stopping and Jenn stomped in anger.  
"No, no, no! Not this..." she said and took a deep breath "lousy Gio, selling me broken down things for double the caps..." But there was nothing she could do about that, except one thing she remembered. She jumped onto her bed horizontally, her legs and arms dangling off of it, as she grabbed a hold of a duffle bag she had stashed between her bed and a hole in the wall.  
"Where is it where is it... A-ha!" She took out a roll of duct tape and a screwdriver and ran back to open the radio.  
Duct tape was a magical piece of plastic. It managed to fix anything nearly and with a few bits of it and readjusting some half ripped wires, it was working as good as when it was first bought by the original owner.  
"And now, we take a short musical break." Were the magical words she lived to hear as soon as she would lie down in her bed as the various songs the radio station had the option to play, emitted from the radio. Jenn was just nearly motionless on her bed, only her foot tapping once Bing Crosby began playing.  
Bingo, bangle, bungle, I'm so happy in the jungle, I refuse to go  
Don't want no bright lights, false teeth, doorbells, landlords, I make it clear  
That no matter how they coax him, I'll stay right here

As the final notes of the song played, Jenn heard the door below open, and she knew by the footsteps it could only be one person. She just turned to her side, faking a sleep as Nell just casually entered her room, casually dragging a chair from the corner to the bedside.  
"Kid, hey kid" she said leaning in her chair waiting for a response.  
No response.  
"Kid" she repeated and just as she was about to poke her, she turned to the other side, her face visibly formed into a begrudging one.  
"No you do not get to be mad, I gave you direct orders-"  
"What are you, my owner?" Jenn interrupted her and sat up and it caught Nell off guard.  
She just stared at her, and saw the distress in Jenn's glossy green eyes. She was aware that she was a child, but no that young of one. She was a fifteen year old girl and around her age people would be recruiting to join the NCR to protect their home and themselves. But there she was, sitting and doing her whatever else she could, since fighting was nothing she had been familiar with.  
But she was right. She was not in boot camp and Nell was not supposed to be giving such hostile sounding orders.  
"I may not own you...but I am looking after you" she began and sat on the bed, right next to her, "You and Me, we are both all we've got..After Chris and Bree..."She fell silent and grunted looking away. Jenn softened up a bit from her anger.  
"I don't want their bright young girl to have to learn any of this shit if she doesn't have to. Bree even moved you all to Oregon since it was the safest place then." She sighed and looked at her. They shared an eye color, but Nell's were more dark, from experiencing all she had in her life.  
"I hate whenever you take an empty gun because I know what a gun brings".  
"It brings regret and fear" she finished Nell's sentence, looking at the ground. It was a phrase her father had said many times.  
"I'll never forget that day. Your old man, taking out that 9mm, and right into the eye of that Fiend.... I swear if the fear of death wasn't the greatest thing, Chris definitely was the most scared in that room. Of course we had to move because of that but that's another story" she explained and it did make Jenn think that maybe it was more dangerous to fight like her aunt and father than she thought. Nell was not a person that could connect to people, least of all children since she never had an idea you should take some things lightly with them at certain stages, but she had to convey her worries to her.  
To release the awkward tension she was building Nell just added after a few moments of silence.  
"Now actually I am here for a different reason. How would you feel about us getting away for a bit? Go to Novac and see some Nevada sights" she offered, rather suddenly.  
Jenn looked at her surprised to hear such a nice offer. "Oh that sounds cool. I've been reading about Vegas and the cities around, I think most of the sights are still standing" She answered, seeming to perk up finally. Nell's tactic of making her feel better seemed to work.  
"Heh, we will discuss sights and everything on the way. We'll go tomorrow morning, it doesn't take us too long to there so we should have an entire day to settle" she told her and got up. Before she left she stopped seeing the radio, a new addition.  
"How did you get this?" She turned, pointing at it.  
"Oh well" Jenn looked down "I babysat Vina's twins a couple times. She wanted to give me the caps for it since I kept going over to listen to hers.."  
Nell simply rolled her eyes and spoke in a cautious tone "Just keep the volume down, alright?"  
Jenn nodded, and with that her aunt left the room.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

"Jenn Jackson!"  
"I'm bathing!"  
"I don't care if you're carving a brahmin, I'm going to gets some supplies for the trip, can you stay safe for an hour?" She asked as she put a pouch of caps into her travel bag.  
"Yeah yeah!" She said half listening and put her clothes on.  
"Alright! I'll lock you so please don't open anything" Nell added and left the house, needing supplies for their planned travel. As soon as she knew she was gone, Jenn snuck to her room. She kept it locked tight when away, but she had a learned a thing or two from the troublemaking twins she had taken care of. She let them drink Nuka-Cola, and they taught her how to pick locks, and she never questioned why they knew how to do it, but it came in handy. It wasn't really much of a room if Jenn had anything to say. Nell only liked having a bed and two suitcases it seemed. One for clothes and the other she knew was forbidden to be touched, but she had a habit of getting in trouble with her. The case was locked and it would always take her two or three tries before the lock opened. And once it did, she was in a world of excitement. She has a good selection of pistols, and quite a bit of ammunition. It was packed as if she had been planning on going to a shoot out. You could never be too sure when traveling, but it seemed excessive.  
"Hopefully she won't miss a bullet or two" Jenn said taking a few and stuffed them into her pocket, she wished to see how they worked and what made them cause so much damage. Just as she was about to close it, she saw something beneath a box of ammunition. Moving the box she found a small hemp bag with the Initial B.J. on it. Curiosity got the better of her and she took the little satchel, opening it to find a pistol. Time had not been its' friend but it seemed to still be in working fashion. AS she looked at it, she saw it had some markings engraved on the metal.  
"Death do us part" read on the barrel. She did not know what to make of it or if she was right in thinking who the gun belonged to. However she seemed to want to examine it more, and she took it with her once she locked the suitcase again, and exited the room, hurrying to her own. Once she was there she took out her stack of old magazines she had been collecting and turned the radio on.  
"Now listeners a little break from the music for some important news-" the radio again became a bit more muffled but Jenn was not listening well to the words as she was searching for a magazine about guns she remembered finding once.  
"Near the town of-...a group- Spotted. Be sure to follow protocol".  
Jenn heard the final part but paid no mind to it as she sighed, "seems she took that one from my stack while I was away. Oh well I can learn on my own".  
When she said she would learn it, Jenn was bent on making it true. She made sure there were no bullets inside, a necessary precaution to not being caught, and began reenacting the moves her aunt had shown her earlier in the day.  
"Okay hands straight, muscles firm.." she adjusted herself and then stopped, breaking concentration "what was the last thing oh..Ah..right, blank thoughts" she sighed, realizing she contradicted the step.  
"One more time" she said, turning off the radio just as Marty Robbins began playing and repeated.  
"Hands straight forward and firm muscles " she lifted the gun with her weak arms, trying her best to keep them still.  
"Mind blank" she said as she turned the safety off, and just as she was about to pull the empty trigger, she heard the door of the house open. She jumped, scared obviously, Nell should not have arrived so early. She stuck the small pistol into her pant pocket, her large vest hiding it from sight as she went downstairs to see what was going on.  
"Aunt Nell-" she climbed down and saw her locking the door and windows, and it caused her to get nervous.  
"Shut off all the lights" she ordered and without questioning she ran to every room, making sure no light got through the windows. She ran back down to Nell, not knowing what was going on.  
"Nell-" she went to ask and saw her pull out a fully fledged rifle, one she recalled seeing on the mantle in their old home. It was a bit terrifying to merely look at , let alone to see being loaded.  
"Now you listen to me" she kneeled in front of her, putting and arm on her shoulder.  
"You are going to hide in the closet in the staircase, and under no circumstances are you to get out alright? I don't care if I am shouting and begging, you stay in there and hide". Her eyes were piercing, the same green now clear, as if she had to focus now more than ever. Jenn could not look away and nodded, becoming scared now, unsure of what was going on, but she ran and hid in the closet either way, making sure that it was locked from the inside. She hid behind the hanging coats and the few boxes that were left inside, as she watched from a crack in the door Nell push the sofa as if it were a barricade, and hid behind it, rifle ready.  
Dead silence. Only the wind audible. And as if the accompany the eerie tune of the night, footsteps like drums joined in. And then by screaming from afar.  
She knew who it belonged to, it was the woman who ran the Brahmin farm. Bloodcurdling scream, and then a bang. Another one right after it, and then dead silence.  
Jenn felt her cheeks get wet. Terror ran through her. Something bad was happening.  
She hoped somehow they would miss them and move to another house.  
Luck would not be on their side as they heard footsteps approach their home.  
"Good catch on hearing that gun today scout. We could have missed this prime spot for slaves if it weren't for your ear" a very masculine voice said and Jenn only moved back farther in the closet, knowing they could enter any moment now.  
"My only wish is to bring us prime bounties for the camp. Who knows, perhaps we will be granted to keep one woman in our camp finally."  
"Yes, it seems all the good ones are taken straight to Arizona. And we're left with the scraps".  
She could hear there were more of them, and it only made her more terrified for herself and her aunt.  
She gasped hearing them kicking the door open, and just walking in, the men's feet creaking on the old wood floor.  
"This place seems like a dump, must have heard the screams and ran as fast as they could." One of the men seemed to have a desire to leave.  
"I wouldn't be so sure.." One said and walked forward. Jenn looked and saw the man walk around, wishing to take a look at the ones that caused her fear. She could not make out a face, but it was clearly a man, in garb of crimson, and well armored as well. They did not look like typical raiders, and that was what made her hope Nell knew what she was doing.  
"Decanus what do you propose" the one walking stepped close to the closet and turned to near the door, speaking to the men he came with. And just as he did, he fell to the ground, silenced forever by a single bullet. Jenn jumped back and began hearing shouting and guns firing. She covered her ears and huddled in the corner, cowering for her life.  
"You bastards are done for "Nell was fierce and shot the second man, crippling him to the floor. However that would be the last shot she took as she was hit in the arm and then in the leg, and she roared like an injured lion, the searing pain unbearable. Jenn widened her eyes, tears overflowing her, but also adrenaline. Her aunt, the only family she had left, was hurt and she needed to do something.  
She looked through the crack in the door and saw Nell, kneeling on the floor, blood appearing on her clothes. A man walked up to her, and upon closer inspection, he seemed more important than the one Nell had shot. His armor seemed to shield him better than the rest, and he had a helmet adorned with feathers to show he was truly more important than the common rabble. He kicked her right in the gut, making her fall onto the ground in agony.  
"A thoughtless child barer, thinking her place is above that. The gall" he said and stood there.  
"Recruits, bring the collar and chains...And heat some iron. Lessons are to be learned today" he said looking at the window before back at Nell, who quivered in fear at the aura the man gave off, tears streaming down her face in pain. All she had promised to her family, to herself, was in vain because she could not avoid a bullet.  
She looked up at the Decanus as he was being handed the collar, and the legionary that stood behind her began lifting her up, purposefully grabbing her where the bullet hit her, wanting to cause her the most pain.  
She saw the collar approach her neck, and she struggled with all her might, but it was not the collar that froze her in place. It was the bullet that narrowly missed her, scraping a bit of her ear as it shot the legionary right through the eye, collapsing him in place. The collar barer turned seeing a tiny girl standing at the door frame, shaking completely, holding a one handed pistol with both hands. She was breathing heavily, her nose bleeding. She seemed to have miscalculated how strong a shoot was and the pistol had hit her. That window gave Nell enough time to knock the Decanus back jump onto him, punching him repeatedly.  
"Jenn now!" She shouted at her snapping her out of the panicked state she was in as she shot, hitting the man's shoulder. That was enough to invoke a shriek from the man as Nell took his gun from his side and put it in his mouth.  
"Ave motherfucker" she said.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time the NCR that was nearby the Utah boarder showed up, they managed to catch a handful of legionaries, freeing everyone they had not taken immediately.  
"You had luck that with being a trained fighter ma'am" a medic told Nell, shooting the contents of the stimpak into her body after he had bandaged her arm "and for training your kid as well. You could be useful to the NCR, would be a lot safer" he advised.  
"Yeah yeah, we ain't buying anything you're selling" Nell said bitter and turned her head, looking at Jenn, who sat on the porch of their home, a female NCR trooper speaking with her, letting her play with their war dog.  
"Are there any more in the area?" She asked the medic.  
"For now no, but they're predicting Utah will fall to them if they are able to sneak in so swiftly. It seems they intercepted the radios  
They still took around a dozen of people, and killed that many along the way. It's getting nasty".  
"Great... Fucking fantastic. First chased out of Oregon, now this" she cursed, agitated.  
"Well, my advice still stays the same. Alright since you are patched up, we'll let you go. Good job today, you gave us good guys a victory" the medic said and walked off.  
"Yeah the good guys" she said and got up, walking towards the porch.  
"Oh look hero, your aunt is coming" the woman said smiling, and the dog barked excited seeing someone drag over. The trooper jumped up saluting Nell and she just brushed it off.  
"You mind? I have a kid to talk to" Nell was harsh with her unnecessarily, it seemed to not be exclusive to Jenn.  
"Uh yes ma'am, come on Fraggy, we got some people to check on" she said and the dog licked Jenn's face, making her smile shortly before running off with the trooper, looking to aid the survivors emotionally.  
"She was nice.." Jenn said and then upon turning to Nell she frowned again, seeing the anger in her eyes mixed with exhaustion.  
"Why did you snoop?" She asked, adjusting her bandaged arm which was in the sling.  
"I'm sorry I just had to-. You wouldn't teach me, and I knew I needed to know.." She said honestly.  
"You hit yourself in the nose, you disobeyed the one thing I told you over and over, then another, then another... I don't have to go on" Nell said in a half snarl.  
"If it weren't for me you would have been caught by those men!"  
"If it weren't for you shooting despite my words they would not have come to town!" She shouted at her, snapping. "If I tell you something, you do it! I am older, I have seen shit in this world and you are expected to listen to orders!"  
Jenn sat back and her eyes became glossy. Nell then stopped, she looked at her.  
Green eyes, clouded with tears. It came to her, but before she could say anything Jenn got up and shouted back.  
"How about you be a human for a day!? Not one of those robots in the East!" She seemed so full of rage. " I wanted you to be proud of me, I wanted to be able to fight like you, be like the woman mom always spoke of, and now I wish I was as different from you as possible!" Her voice was cracking and tears stained the wooden floor as she turned and ran inside, shutting herself in her room. She had not felt this horrible in a long while and wished for it all to go away, even in a moment thinking that if those men had kidnapped her, she might have felt less hated than now. Only after such words, did she realize the heaviness her attitude brought to the child's mind. Perhaps she thought, she could not be aggressive with everyone and expect the same results.

Somehow, through tears and wailing, Jenn had sunken herself into a slumber, and the only thing that awoke her was the radio chirping away. She turned to try and shut it off, but was spooked away by something falling onto her.  
"Wake up", she opened her eyes to see the voice came from Nell and what had fallen in front of her was her travel bag,. The room was painted orange, the sun barely up in the sky.  
"Why would I?" She asked, displeased from the start.  
"We're moving up north" she said and threw a small sack at her. She was confused, one attack on the village and they were leaving.  
"The caravan we're taking is leaving in half an hour. Dave's cousin" she said and just as she was to turn she threw a satchel at Jenn, it hitting her thigh and making her grunt.  
"You'll need this".  
"Wait-" She looked inside "the pistol? But this is mom's".  
"And you are your mother's daughter. It's dangerous up north and you'll need it for shooting the moving targets. A lot of geckos around that area, and they are not your friends" she told her, looking at her. Jenn looked up as well, and for once, when they looked at each other, they both saw the same green eyes, exhausted and full of emotions. What Nell had gone through in her life made her gaze seem dark, while Jenn's had the bright spark of hope that made her aunt question if she could handle the world, for she was terrified it would take her spark away.  
"Now pack your radio and let's get a move on, you need to carry one of my suitcases to the caravan" she said and walked out the door.  
"Nell. Thank you," she heard as she exited the room, her face softening for a few moments, but never turning to look at the girl. She only took comfort in knowing that perhaps, the way the world truly was, would not change her too much, and let her hold onto the things that truly mattered in the end.


End file.
